Meet the Instructors

Antoine Flahault

Professor of Public Health and Director of the Institute of Global Health (Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva) and co-Director of Centre Virchow-Villermé (Université Paris Descartes)University of Geneva and Université Paris Descartes – Sorbonne Paris Cité

Rafael Ruiz De Castañeda

Institute of Global Health - Faculty of MedicineUniversity of Geneva

Defeating Ebola Together Week 4: The Response from Africa and the World
"EPRUS - France's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Force"

Where are we today?

What is EPRUS?

>> We are in one of EPRUS' supply storage warehouses;

this one is dedicated to the fight against Ebola.

EPRUS stands for Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Force.

It's the armed branch, so to speak, of the Ministry of Health,

designed to be prepared and to intervene in the event of a major health crisis.

To this end, it provides both material and human resources.

Material resources are made up of what is known as the State's Strategic Stock

of Health Products: antibiotics, antiviral agents,

antidotes, vaccines -- to respond to

a major health crisis, such as a natural disaster, an industrial catastrophe,

terrorist attacks, or epidemics like Ebola.

EPRUS also has a human intervention force comprising healthcare professionals

who volunteer and are ready, from one day to the next,

to travel to the scene of a major health crisis.

There are many types of volunteers:

doctors of all medical specialties,

anesthetists, surgeons, pediatricians,

psychiatrists, epidemiologists,

as well as nurses, caregivers, paramedics, hospital administrators, and sanitary engineers.

Essentially, every type of health professional is represented, which

allows us to provide a concrete and comprehensive response

when there is a major health crisis.

>> How does EPRUS position itself, when responding to a health crisis, in relation